Refugee Policies - Conclusion

In sum, the United States has always accepted refugees, even though such
immigrants were not necessarily defined in the immigration laws.
Government officials in Washington, including members of Congress and the
president, often responded to overseas crises by linking refugees to
foreign policy. A variety of nationality, religious, and ethnic private
groups also pressured the government to admit refugees. Most of the
admissions, from the arrival of exiles from the French Revolution in the
1790s to World War II, were permitted because the nation wished to inform
the world that the United States was an "asylum for
mankind."

After World War II, refugee policy underwent change. America's new
role in the world prompted political leaders to admit thousands of
refugees and displaced persons in Europe. As the Cold War came to dominate
American foreign affairs, most refugees were perceived as fleeing
communism. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in eastern
Europe, America changed the type of refugee it was willing to receive, but
that new policy was still heavily influenced by foreign affairs and
domestic politics.

From 1789 to the present, refugee policy was often made on an ad hoc
basis. Even following the 1965 immigration act's provisions and the
Refugee Act of 1980, government officials often responded to political
pressure groups in determining which persons were accepted. Cubans were
refugees but Haitians were not. Refugee policy differs little from
immigration policy in that it is often confused, ad hoc, and constantly
changing. For the immediate future it appears that these policies will
continue to be the result of foreign affairs and internal pressures.